Leflore Illustrated Winter 2008-09

Greenwood, Mississippi

A River Country Journal / Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Leflore

Sara Criss

Covering civil rights

Extinct

Juke Joints becoming

Illustrated

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people 4. Lee Hall wakes up the city with his radio show, “Greenwood Mornings.”

6. Orlando Moss jumps to his own beat as MVSU choir director.

8. Former Mayor Harry Smith shows a softer side in his rose garden.

16. Johnny Ballas cooks his way into history at the Crystal Grill.

18. Supervisor Preston Ratliff, an inclusive leader.

25. Whatever happened to the girl who wrote “Ode to Billie Joe”?

29. Taylor Ricketts balances between her work as an artist and chef.

table of contents The evening sun sets over a field in Leflore County.

places 11. Juke joints are becoming an endangered species.

14. Travelers’ Rest Missionary Baptist Church overcomes 2006 fire.

31. Underpass brought the world to Greenwood.

41. Point to point to Point Leflore – the story of the Smith home.

An early fall afternoon at the home of Ralph Guy and Sheri Smith off Money Road

features 21. Former correspondent Sara Criss 26.

36.

39.

43.

more

3. From the editor.

33. Calendar.

47. Index to advertisers.

48. Main Street Greenwood director pleased with efforts in ongoing projects.

has a passion for news.

Jeff Slaughter rocks Vacation Bible School with his songs.

Offroad recipes right here in Leflore County.

Sooey! Hog hunting in the Delta.

Roy Martin Delta Band Festival brings Christmas to Greenwood.

ON THE COVER: From left, Wilkes Meek 4, and Deren Meek, 7, eye two pieces of chocolate pie at the Crystal Grill in Greenwood. They are the children of McLeod and Allison Meek.

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 1

L

eflore

Pumped up

And polished

Illustrated

BCBGirls

Editor and Publisher Tim Kalich

Managing Editor Jenny Humphryes

Associate Editor David Monroe

Contributing Writers

Bob Darden, Charlie Smith, Rachel Hodge, William Browning, Bill Burrus, Ruth Jensen and Jo Alice Darden

Advertising Director Larry Alderman

Advertising Sales

Kim Clark, Linda Bassie, Erica Fisk, Kim Badome, Susan Montgomery

Photography/Graphics Anne Miles, Joseph Cotton, Johnny Jennings

Production

Lee Palmertree

Circulation Director Shirley Cooper

Volume 4, No. 1 —————— Editorial and business offices: P.O. Box 8050 329 Highway 82 West Greenwood, MS 38935-8050 662-453-5312 —————— Leflore Illustrated is published by Commonwealth Publishing, Inc.

2 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

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From the editor

Sharing the huddle with

Greatness

My most memorable brush with football greatness came in the person of Neil “Ears” Allen.

Neil didn’t like the nickname, which poked fun at the appendages that stuck out from the sides of his head and were exaggerated by the crew cut his parents made him wear. I tried not to use the nickname in front of him because he was my friend and because I knew he would have knocked the snot out of me.

Neil also didn’t care for the rumor, circulated by those envious of his athletic exploits, that he had once flunked. I suppose the allegation refused to die, groundless though it was, because the only person in our class who was anywhere close to Neil in size had indeed had to repeat an early grade.

Neil was stronger, faster and better skilled than anyone else in our class. He was a naturally gifted athlete who was made even better by competing against his older brothers and their friends.

Even in grade school, he could hold his own against most of the high-schoolers in football, basketball or baseball.

Neil and I were teammates for four years on the football team at our small Catholic school, St. Peter’s Cathedral. Our school was usually outmanned and outsized by all the other Catholic schools we played in Kansas City. While we might be able to field four decent athletes, St. Anne’s and St. Agnes would have 40.

I wasn’t one of the decent ones.

I started off my career on the offensive line, a 64-pound guard who couldn’t budge much other than the grass below my cleats. Later I was moved to wide receiver, where I could catch a ball but not get very far once I did. It was said that I ran like I was carrying a piano on my back.

Our team’s hopes of staying in a game rested heavily on Neil’s herculean shoulders. The offensive scheme was generally to get him the ball and get out of the way.

The league had a weight limit for the skill players on offense – quarterback, running back and receiver – designed to keep the competition from getting too unbalanced. One year, Neil weighed in over the limit and had to be moved to the line. It was a long, painful season.

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Toward the end of that year, we faced off against St. Joe’s. The game got a late start, and by the fourth quarter we were playing in darkness. The only illumination came from the headlights of the parents’ vehicles that surrounded the field. Desperate to salvage something out of a lost season, our coaches agreed to our pleadings to cheat and move Neil to the backfield. It was impossible for the referees or the opposing side to tell who was playing where. As I recall, Neil scored the winning touchdown.

We vowed to avoid a repeat the next season. As the weigh-in date approached, we put Neil on a crash exercise program. We made him run the hilly streets around his home, a layer of plastic under his sweats, trying to wring out every extra ounce of water from his body. It worked. He skirted under the limit by a pound or two.

Neil and I went off to separate high schools and mostly lost touch. After a stellar high school career, Neil was offered a football scholarship to Kansas State University to play quarterback.

He turned it down, opting instead for a pro baseball contract. He lasted 11 years as a pitcher in the major leagues. He compiled a 5870 win-loss record, alternating during his career between being a starter and a reliever. Last I read, he was a minor league pitching coach.

My own football playing days ended uneventfully after eighth grade. I understood by then that those who are slow and small are best suited for the stands or the press box.

Most young boys here in Mississippi, where football is even more of a religion than it was in Kansas City, dream of being the next Eli Manning or Jerry Rice.

They don that first helmet and set of shoulder pads as if they are putting on the armament of the gods.

For most of us mortals, however, the experience eventually winds up being a sobering one. Sooner or later, we learn that the autumn heroes of our childhood are not easily emulated. We shift gears toward more realistic, if somewhat less glamorous ambitions. We become those who cheer, rather than those who are cheered on.

And we remember the days when, if we were lucky, we shared a huddle with greatness. – Tim Kalich Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 3

Greenwood

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Lee Hall’s

P

Mornings

BY CHARLIE SMITH

art news and part political forum, “Greenwood Mornings” has become Leflore County’s over-the-air marketplace of ideas.

Lee Hall, host of the weekday morning program on AM 1240, prefers to rope callers into a conversation rather than get a quick sound bite.

“They’ll call and talk about sports, and you’ll ask them something about politics,” he said.

Although they’re quick to discuss local political issues around the water cooler, most are hesitant to do it for public consumption, he says.

“I think it’s just kind of unfortunately the Delta mentality, not wanting to come out and share.”

Hall, who grew up on a plantation in Holmes County, somehow avoided that hesitancy. He speaks quickly most of the time, and when in political debate, his speed increases and his eyes take on an excited gleam.

Since the show started about a year ago, he has been able to warm listeners to the idea of exercising their right to talk about politics.

“They’ll get to the point they’ll say, ‘Look, got any questions for me today?’” Hall said.

His questions are influenced by his opinions, which help shape discussion on the show.

“Sometimes I’ll give my fallout on what I think, and that makes for good conversation,” he said.

4 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Lee Hall stands in front of the WGRM radio tower in Greenwood.

However, he knows listeners aren’t there to hear him talk for an hour. Getting as many people going as possible is the goal. Two opposing political candidates going back and forth at the same time is the ultimate, he said.

State Sen. David Jordan is a frequent caller and others are starting to call more often, including Wayne Self, president of the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.

“He’s realizing, ‘I am accountable to the people, and all the people are not going to come to the board meetings and the town hall meetings, but what I can do, I can meet them on the radio with my comment,’” Hall said.

He says he’s “a little bit obsessed” with getting other folks interested in radio.

“We think that it’s the most underused tool in the community, particularly black radio,” Hall said.

His broadcasting career began in sports, where says he had a lot of fun and discovered radio’s power. Now 52, he has spent about 10 years at WGRM, where he is station manager.

Informing the public is the whole reason for having the show, Hall says. He considers it true news, not enter“We think tainment. that it’s the Hall gleans most under- ideas from a stack used tool in of newspapers and Internet the community, printouts, mixing particulary community black radio.” announcements with discussions of how internaLee Hall tional conflicts will affect the U.S. presidential race.

He frequently attends public meetings to get firsthand reports, and his pointed questions, delivered in a rapid-fire style, sometimes bring discomfort to officials.

Hall certainly takes them up on their requests, at least while campaigning, to “hold our feet to the fire.”

“Many times when you question them, there’s an attitude of, ‘Why are you questioning me? I’m the one. Let me lead you,’” Hall said. “And they’re not supposed to be that way.

“On our program, we kind of push the philosophy of Barack Obama. We always thought that change starts with the individual.”

Getting people involved in politics, often for the first time, is what makes the show fun, he said.

“I think if you get people involved, the politicians might change that attitude and say, ‘I’m going to serve you for now the best that I can do even if it costs me this position,’ and that’s a true servant, I think.” LI

At home in the booth, Lee Hall is ready to debate politics.

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Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 5

Orlando Moss

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

JUMPING to his own beat

“Some people say it’s OK, some say it’s unnatural and some say, ‘You overdo it.’ I tell them I can’t do it any other way.”

Orlando Moss

BY WILLIAM BROWNING

N

ot long ago, Orlando Moss began jumping up and down. It lasted 15 seconds or so, and Moss – who never lost his breath – stayed in conversation throughout. A revered college professor, he was demonstrating how he occasionally warms up his choir students.

A few people witnessed the scene on Mississippi Valley State University’s campus. No jaws dropped and no one stared. It was as if the sight of this bespectacled 70-year-old man jumping up and down vigorously in coat and tie is par for Valley’s course.

It likely is.

6 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Orlando Moss began directing Mississippi Valley State University’s student choir in 1993.

In the ensuing 15 years, his conducting style has gained as many accolades as his award-winning students.

ate studies at Grambling State University. Next a long teaching Moss, a professor in Valley’s Department of Fine Arts since stint in high schools, during which Moss’ choirs brought home 1989, has a reputation for losing himself in choir performances. bagfuls of superior ratings from competition.

He is a cult-like figure on the Itta Bena school’s campus, legends Still, he felt unfulfilled and began yearning to lead choirs at swirling about him like blackbirds. He’s gripped the baton to the university level. After a search, it came down between a collead Valley’s choir in Greenwood’s St. John’s United Methodist lege in Minnesota and Valley.

Church, the Piazza Dante in Naples, Italy, and Washington, D.C. Moss admits his wife, Ollie, helped No matter the locale, though, Moss leads make the decision to move to the Delta. with unabashed passion and precision.

“She says Minnesota would have been “Some people say it’s OK, some say it’s too cold anyway,” he said. unnatural and some say, ‘You overdo it,’” he Neither of them regret the choice. His said of his antics on the director’s stand. “I colleagues don’t either. tell them I can’t do it any other way.”

“People at Valley, across the state and Since Moss moved to Itta Bena almost throughout the nation marvel at the 20 years ago, his devotion to students has enthusiasm, energy, passion and dynamic earned him two teacher of the year awards way he approaches the choir,” said and one humanitarian award from Valley.

Valley’s interim president, Dr. Roy He calls his students his babies; they call Hudson. “He has through his relationhim “Daddy.” Moss may pass time pondership with people in the alumni associaing heroes like Ludwig Van Beethoven and tion, the community, Mississippi, and Leonard Bernstein, but inspiration comes even throughout the United States and from “the love for my students.” internationally, served as an ambassador “Knowing that I have to give them my for the university and assisted us in our very, very best each day – that’s what I’m fundraising and development activities,” enthusiastic about,” he said.

Hudson added, noting Moss’ recent travThe happiest part of his day comes in Orlando Moss’ passion, commitment els to South America, Italy and the the morning, when he’s alone inside the and strides toward excellence have Bahamas.

Walter Sillers Fine Arts Complex, preparmade him a legendary figure on In early March 2009, Valley’s choir will ing for his noon class. Submerged in study, Mississippi Valley State University’s travel to New York City. They are schedhe finds his bliss behind a closed office campus uled to perform at Ground Zero, Saint door.

Patrick’s Cathedral and the Statue of Not surprisingly, he’s a demanding teacher.

Liberty. Moss said he takes his choir around the world so stuMembers of his choir must maintain a 2.5 GPA in all areas of dents are exposed to as many different cultures as possible. He study. Choir students seen running across Valley’s campus are wants them to see their competition, he said, because Valley’s known to be heading to his class. No one dares being a minute late, for fear of being locked out. “They know I’ll mark them choir “is one of the finest in the world.” absent,” he said, but added, “My students respect what I do At his age, do his thoughts ever turn toward retirement?

Apparently not. with them.”

“People tell me, ‘I don’t care how long you do it, as long as you Moss in conversation is a bit like Moss in the conductor’s pit: keep on doing it how you’re doing it,’” Moss said.

The pace seems unpredictable, but the man’s in control. Ask the It seems Moss will be conducting Valley’s choir – and jumping Louisiana native how he made his way to Valley and hold tight. up and down in Itta Bena – for many years to come. LI There’s undergraduate days at Vandercook College, then graduFall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 7

A man and his roses Harry Smith

Former Greenwood Mayor Harry Smith likes to share the beauty he cultivates in his back yard.

PHOTOS BY BOB DARDEN

8 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Former Greenwood mayor shows a softer side

BY BOB DARDEN

For more than 12 years Greenwood Mayor Harry Smith was in the topsy-turvy world of politics on a daily basis.

Now retired, he’s more involved with the thorny issues involving his rose garden.

“When I was a child, my mother had some rose bushes, nothing like this many, and I just despised having to work on them.

Since I started this, I call it my mother’s revenge. There must have been some love of roses built in,” said Smith, 67.

Today, Smith has about 103 rose bushes in the back yard of his home on East Harding Avenue.

Those rose bushes keep him pretty busy.

“I’ve cut about five or six dozen. I gave them away this morning. Some days, it will be like fire. There’ll be so many of them,” he said during a recent visit.

Smith’s experience in the world of roses began even before he and his wife, Perry, moved to their home almost a decade ago.

The house’s previous owner, the late Jim Snyder, had about two rows of roses growing in the back yard.

Today, only one of those original, preSmith rose bushes survives, the mayor said.

“I’ve slowly expanded his rose bed,” Smith said.

Growing roses is something that requires skill, he said.

“As I got into it, I joined the American Rose Society, and I get all of their publications. I read about roses. I learn a lot about various fertilizers, chemicals and techniques,” Smith said.

He said, during the height of rose season, he’s been known to cut as many as 10 to 15 dozen in a single day.

Although Perry gets first pick of each morning’s bounty, which are transported in recycled coffee cans, Smith makes it a point to give roses to his friends and neighbors.

One recipient is fellow Republican and former Ward 2 Greenwood Councilwoman Jo Claire Swayze.

“I love to see Harry coming with those coffee cans. He brought me some last week. They were gorgeous,” said Swayze.

Swayze’s home features a pink living

room and, she said, Smith makes it a point to supply her with plenty of beautiful pink roses that match her decor.

“It’s wonderful. It lifts your day. I love to arrange them,” Swayze said.

Mrs. Otis Allen is another of Smith’s rose recipients.

She said Smith’s roses have drawn rave reviews from people attending functions of the Greenwood Woman’s Club.

They’ve also helped the club raise muchneeded funds during its “Game Day,” which is held annually on the fourth Wednesday of April, Allen said.

She said the proceeds from Game Day go to maintaining the Confederate Memorial Building.

Allen said her daughter, Gay Redditt, has made arrangements for her church, Sidon United Methodist Church, from roses donated by Smith.

The roses also find their way to Golden Age Nursing Home. “His roses have really been enjoyed by a lot of people. People that don’t know Harry,” Allen said.

“They’ve brought joy to many, many people through the years.”

Occasionally, Smith said, he will receive calls for rose petals for a wedding ceremony.

“People don’t understand that in a bigger church, I have known them to tear up as many as 40 dozen roses to provide them with enough petals,” he said.

Smith has some favorite roses in his garden. There’s the “Don Juan” running or climbing rose, the tea roses, the “Veteran’s Honor,” the “Ebb Tide” and the “Pristine,” a rose which starts out white and then turns pink.

A lot of those rose varieties were developed in the Pacific Northwest, he said. “I never would have thought of Oregon and Washington as being great rose country, but boy they have some beautiful roses.” LI

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 9

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JUKE JOINTS

This photo, “Turk’s Place, Leflore County Mississippi 1989,” is from the book “Juke Joint” by photographer Birney Imes III.

Endangered

species

M

BY WILLIAM BROWNING

ost have locked their doors for the final time, defeated by a new Mississippi Delta of sparkling casinos and strip-style

malls.

Zora Neale Hurston considered them “the most important space in America, musically speaking,” but juke joints, those mythical little gathering spots from where the blues first crawled, are endangered species across today’s New South landscape.

“We get people calling sometimes wanting to know where they can find a juke joint,” said Bruce Watson, general manager of the Water Valley-based blues record label Fat Possum Records. “I just tell them there aren’t any.”

Today, the survivors are brief stops on blues tours, patronized more by pasty-skinned fraternity members than by the field hands who created their demand.

The holdouts – Red’s Lounge in Clarksdale or Po Monkey’s in Merigold – are pondered like museum pieces, written up in The New York Times and fea-

tured on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”

“Yes, rural juke joints are basically gone,” said Dr. Luther Brown, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University. “And it’s because the rural population is gone.”

Like much of the country, Brown said, the South has retreated into comfy chairs, big-screen televisions and DVDs. “America just takes its entertainment differently now,” he said. While transportation has improved, and farming machinery has eliminated the need for field hands, “jooks” – meaning “wicked” in the African-influenced Gullah dialect – have been left bare in the wake of progress.

“They started out as just rent parties,” Watson said.

“Folks would take all the furniture out in the yard on a Sunday night, get somebody to come play, maybe serve catfish on white bread, and charge folks to come in. That’s how they got a month’s rent.”

Juke joints weren’t exactly the type of business ventures geared for marketplace competition.

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 11

“For me, they were places that had a makeshift quality and were usually outside any city limits.”

Birney Imes III, editor and publisher of The Commercial Dispatch, Columbus “Ground Zero (Blues Club) over here in Clarksdale tries to emulate a juke joint – and does a pretty good job,” said Roger Stolle, proprietor of Clarksdale’s Cathead Delta Blues and Folk Art store. “But it could never be considered an actual juke joint because of the simple fact that it has a marketing plan.”

Despite the lack of marketing plans, juke joints at one time loomed large across the Delta.

For sharecroppers looking to recover from a week spent working the land, they offered live music, livelier drink and – if the notion danced – a dust-up.

“Look, back in the day, these places were quasi-legal establishments,” Stolle said. “I asked (bluesman) Wesley ‘Junebug’ Jefferson once how he defined a juke joint, and he said, ‘They don’t have as many rules.’ I think that sums it up.”

While a “nightclub” might offer a menu

12 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

of food and call for slightly formal attire, juke joints were “less formal, less structured,” said Brown. “More or less, they were places to drink and listen to live music.”

“Eighty years, maybe 100 years, ago, transportation wasn’t as good for a sharecropper,” he said. “So when it was time to do something, everyone would basically walk. Consequently, you had little juke houses all over rural areas.

“But over time, the term ‘juke joint’ has become more generic.”

If the dying days of the bona fide juke joints were in the 1980s, photographer Birney Imes III took their death masks.

From 1983 to 1989, Imes combed the Delta, taking pictures of rural juke joints.

The collection was released in the celebrated 1990 book “Juke Joints: Photographs.”

“For me, they were places that had a

makeshift quality and were usually outside of any city limits,” said Imes, who today is editor and publisher of the Columbus newspaper The Commercial Dispatch.

He talked of how during daylight hours, juke joints were community centers where people would gather. But at night, Imes said, “the atmosphere would change, the energy would change. They would become energized.”

When they did, Imes was there with his camera.

“When taking the pictures, I tried to imagine the likes of Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt or Big Joe Williams, people like that, playing in those places,” he said.

Today, when people talk about those deceased blues musicians, they do so in the past tense. Imes did the same when talking about juke joints. LI

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Rising from the

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Ashes The new Travelers’ Rest Missionary Baptist Church.

The congregation at Travelers’ Rest gathers for Sunday morning worship.

Travelers’ Rest rebounds from 2006 fire

BY RUTH JENSEN

From the time Travelers’ Rest Missionary Baptist Church in the began to meet in its own home again. “The church means all the Rising Sun community burned in June of 2006, until a new building world to me,” Pulley said. “It’s God first, family and then church.” was put to use in September of last year, Cedell Pulley remained in a The beautiful new building was dedicated Oct. 21, 2007, celebratstate of anxiety. ing 133 years of service to God and community.

The church, begun in 1874, had been through hard times before, Dianne Morris says she is thankful that the deacons stayed strong but when lightning struck and it burned, that was about as bad as it and were able to build the new sanctuary without a pastor’s leadercould get. Then came another hit. “We lost our pastor in November ship. Mrs. Morris has been a part of the church since 1981, and she that same year,” Pulley recalled. “Some people left. We went says she plans to remain there. through a lot of trials and tribulations. I was worried about how we “As long as I see Travelers’ Rest standing by ‘Thus saith the would go on without a pastor.”

Lord,’ I’ll be right there with them. I’m extremePHOTO BY JOE HULLABY Pulley likens himself to the Biblical ly pleased with my church,” she said.

Nehemiah, who wouldn’t go home until the Jeanette Brown says she was driving from her walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. The former neighborhood to another church, even though Leflore County school superintendent wanted Travelers’ Rest was just down the street from her to see after every detail of the new building. He home. “My pastor said it’s a sin to drive by one says he stayed so busy with the project that his church to get to another, so I thought if it’s a sin, The remains of Travelers’ Rest wife wondered at times if he was putting the that’s one sin I can get rid of easily. So I began to Missionary Baptist Church following go to Travelers’ Rest. It’s a community church. church before her. “I couldn’t leave. I was a June 2006 fire. determined to get the building back up so we It’s dear to my heart. I just love it.” could have services,” he said.

When Joe Hullaby returned home from miliAs chairman of deacons and a trustee at the church, Pulley felt the tary service, he said he knew he wanted to find a church home, and heavy weight of responsibility for the rebuilding. He also speaks of a someone invited him to Travelers’ Rest, where his membership has great love for Travelers’ Rest, to which he has belonged from the age stayed, even when he was on duty in Georgia. of 8 or 9, and says getting the church back on its feet was very imporHullaby says the church’s doors are open to anyone, but it espetant to him. Despite hard times, Pulley and other church members cially tries to minister to the Rising Sun community. “We do all feel they weren’t forsaken, either by God or fellow Christians. sorts of activities in the community,” he said. “I think it’s a great “The Lord helped us,” he said. “We were blessed in having a church. Our goal is just to bring people closer to God.” minister to preach to us every Sunday. The Greater Second Mount Patsy Ross-Macon agrees, saying the church is a perfect fit for Pleasant Church let us meet. They opened their arms to us.” her. “It’s where my mother went,” she said, “so when I moved On first Sundays, the congregation met at Locust Grove back from Chicago five years ago, it’s where I wanted to go. I just Missionary Baptist Church. Still, it was a difficult time, and Pulley love it. With our pastor’s preaching, anyone can grow closer to says he was greatly relieved when the building was erected, the Rev. God. I have seen a lot of people change in the past five years. It’s Sammy Townes was called to be the new pastor, and the church where I plan to stay.” LI 14 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

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Johnny Ballas’

CRYSTAL

Grill

Johnny Ballas stands in the front room at the Crystal Grill, which his family has owned since the 1930s.

Cooking its way into G reenwood histo ry

BY CHARLIE SMITH

Johnny Ballas’ years at The Crystal Grill have produced more than meals and dollars.The downtown restaurant has cooked its way into Greenwood’s social history.

“You know so many of the patrons firsthand,” said Ballas, whose relatives have owned “The Crystal” since the 1930s.

“Families from grandfathers to fathers to sons to kids to grandkids – having been here as long as I have, you build up relationships with a lot of those people,” he said. “You know their families and their history and where they’ve come from.”

Ballas, 56, started working full time at the restaurant after getting out of college in the mid-1970s. After several changes within the family, he and his father have run the restaurant since 1986.

Mike Ballas, 90, is mostly retired, but he comes to the Crystal daily at lunch. He was born on the Greek island of Skopelos, where the movie “Mamma Mia!” was recently filmed.

“He’s had a great run,” Johnny said.

16 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Immediate right, Johnny and Beverly Ballas pause for a moment at the restaurant. Far right, Mike Ballas, 90, still comes to The Crystal Grill daily for lunch.

At right is his son, Johnny.

Johnny’s wife, Beverly, doesn’t work at the restaurant anymore but comes in to make sure things are kept right. Johnny says she’s kind of taken over the position of his mother, Deomi, who passed away in 2007.

Deomi Ballas did more than just work the cash register at night; she took a personal interest in all the families who came in.

“She loved coming down here. She loved to clean and keep everything neat, and we miss having her around,” Johnny said.

The reins remain in Ballas’ hands. He stays mostly in the kitchen, not usually as a chef but cutting steaks and doing other prep work.

“I’ve done it all my life. I’ve done it from the time I was in school working parttime on weekends until now,” he said.

The family atmosphere is part of what makes the Crystal so popular, but Ballas said the key is the variety and quality of food at an affordable price.

Moving food from freezer to grill, as many chain restaurants do, is not a Crystal procedure.

The Deep South menu has adapted to a health-conscious culture with lots of fish and grilled offerings.

“I’d really say we serve more grilled food now than we do fried food,” Ballas said.

However, the fried option is still available, as is, in Ballas’ words, the “greasy gravy.”

“We give them the bad-health food stuff, too,” Ballas said with a laugh.

The restaurant draws people from a large radius, including Winona, Grenada, Indianola and Belzoni. “All those little

towns all gravitate to Greenwood to come eat,” Ballas said.

The Crystal Grill’s success is still tied in part to Delta agriculture, as evidenced by the large lunch crowds on rainy days.

“Part of that is your farming community coming to town because they don’t have anything to do because it’s too wet to work,” Ballas said.

The restaurant business demands dedication. For Ballas, days start about 9:30 a.m. and sometimes last straight through until 11 p.m.

He does steal time to fish and hunt when he can.

“I love going out to my farm out in Carroll County and sitting out on my lake and fishing and relaxing,” Ballas said. “It’s a real stress relief when you’re down here working the hours that we do.”

He halfway plans to retire up in those hills eventually, but he can’t envision leaving the restaurant for good.

“I don’t see myself completely quitting and getting out. I think I would be bored,”

Ballas said. “I enjoy coming down.”

He once told his father he wanted to retire in his 50s, but “I don’t think that’s going to happen at this point,” he said.

Being a Greenwood mainstay hasn’t shielded the Crystal completely from the national recession, which Ballas calls “one of the worst I’ve ever been through.”

Rising prices for just about everything – food, deliveries, labor – are the main culprit. “It’s been a trying time this past year or so,” Ballas said. “It’s tough. Not much profit. You’re just basically trying to keep it in the water.”

However, it’s hard to get too worried about the economy when hearing about it in Ballas’ deep, assuring voice.

He’s confident his restaurant can adjust to the economic changes. “I think we as a whole have tried to keep our identity like it used to be – you know, the old Crystal Grill – but at the same time you have to change with the times and change your menu with the times, and I think we’ve done that fairly well.” LI

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Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 17

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS Leflore County Supervisor Preston Ratliff visits with constituents in District 3.

Preston Ratliff

AIn nleadership ew attitude

BY JENNY HUMPHRYES

Inclusive.

There is no better word to describe one of Leflore County’s newest supervisors, Preston Ratliff.

Ratliff, a native of Jackson, has lived in Leflore County for more than 30 years. He says he has seen many things change – not always for the better. So he wanted to give something back to the community that has given him so much.

“I wanted to see Leflore County grow and not be stagnant, and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Ratliff, who also is the Child Find director and assistant special education director for the Leflore County School District.

Ratliff, 51, was elected supervisor for District 3 in 2007.

He said his job led him to run for office. With the school district, he said, you take one student one day at a time, and with the county, you take one project one day at a time to make it better.

“When you work with people, you learn people, and they learn a lot about you,” he said.

18 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Preston Ratliff says he is an inclusive leader who seeks to help those who don’t have connections.

Ratliff is supervisor for District 3 and also works as an administrator for the Leflore County School District.

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P.O. Box 8050, Greenwood, MS 38935 Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 19

Beside his duties He said he has with the county become more and the school disopen-minded while trict, Ratliff also is working for the an assistant director school district. His with the Special colleagues there use Olympics. “It has words such as “colbeen my gift laboration” and back,” Ratliff said. “inclusive” when He loves the joy they talk about that intellectually improving the sysdisabled children tem. experience when “And I thought I they participate in could bring those the Special same thoughts to Olympics. And he the communityLeflore County Supervisor Preston said it was a great building approach,” Ratliff, left, is all about inclusion and pleasure to take he said. working together with everyone in the area students to the The term “that’ll community, no matter what their race. first ever national do” won’t do any Special Olympic more, he said: “We games in Iowa in want more than 2006. what we’ve been Ratliff and his getting.”

1972 as a band member at Murrah. He wife, Jacqueline, who is a nurse at Ratliff said his main goal as a supervisor remembers well the festive mood around Greenwood Leflore Hospital, have three is to be an advocate – more for the everythe two parades that were held then. children. Preston Ratliff III is a physical day people than for big industry. When the His band came back to the parade in people are ready, then the industries will 1973, and Ratliff began school at MVSU in therapist at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, Jarred Ratliff is a senior at Mississippi come, he said.

1974. “That’s how I wound up here,” he Valley State University, and Jasmine Ratliff “We are trying to create a county people said. is a junior at Greenwood High School. want to live in and not leave,” Ratliff said.

Following graduation from Valley, he Ratliff also is the proud grandfather of “And it starts with the small things.” began teaching at Leflore County High two, and the family attends St. Francis of He said it is rewarding when he can School in 1978. He taught for seven years Assisi Catholic Church. LI make a connection before moving to the central office. to help solve a problem for some“We are trying to cre- one.

“I try to be there Montessori Nursery School ate a county for people who with Extended Care, people want don’t have connecDebbie Ellis, Director tions,” he said. to live in and He doesn’t not leave.” believe in acceptthat things Preston Ratliff ing can’t be done. But he realizes that things won’t get done until residents cooperate. He said it will take a partnership For ages 6 weeks to 13 years with the city, county and citizens – no matState-of-the-art facility ter what their skin color – working to make Montessori teaching methods the community a better place to live in.

All childcare certificates welcome “It’s going to take the public and private sectors working together,” Ratliff said.

Everyone should have pride in the comMartin Luther munity and practice inclusiveness instead King Drive, of divisiveness, he said.

Building 14, Another important part of improving the Greenwood community is a volunteer spirit. Ratliff said 453-1101 he learned the importance of volunteering 211 West President Ave. while attending Mississippi Valley State Greenwood 455-8733 University.

After graduating from Murrah High School in Jackson in 1974, he decided to come to the Delta for college. But that was not his first trip to Leflore County.

He first came to Greenwood for the Roy “The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.”

Martin Delta Band Festival in the fall of Maria Montessori

The Learning Tree

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20 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Sara Criss has a

passion for news

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Sara Criss and her camera were a familiar sight in Greenwood, where she covered track meets, debutante balls, civil rights marches and everything in between.

BY JO ALICE DARDEN

I

It’s fairly safe to say that most people in Greenwood don’t share their breakfast nooks with large, clattering teletype machines that might interrupt meals, parties and tender moments with an insistent ringing every time something happens in Mississippi. For the Crisses on East Adams, though, that machine was just accepted as a rather noisy member of the family – or at least a unique kitchen appliance.

Sara Evans Criss, now 87, worked for the Memphis Commercial Appeal for 30 years, starting in 1951. She covered a large part of the Delta, reporting on whatever made news, “from track meets to debutante balls,” she said.

Her scrapbooks and photo albums are packed with clippings of her articles and photographs, yellowed and delicate with age. Much of the news was the “stuff” of everyday life in the Delta. But in the stormy, racially charged era of the 1960s, Sara saw Greenwood in ways that most other residents did not.

“We never knew from day to day what to expect when we got home from school,” said Mary Carol Miller, Sara’s younger daughter. “Mama was ‘on call’ all the time.”

Miller remembers many times when crowds of people from faraway places gathered in the Crisses’ kitchen to talk over events of the day, transmit photographs via a telephoto machine, watch for news coming over the wire on the teletype machine and maybe have a bite to eat.

“We just tried to stay out of their way,” said Miller.

An unscheduled appearance in Greenwood by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in March 1963 hit home, literally and personally, for Miller. Family and friends had gathered at the Crisses’ house for a party to celebrate Miller’s ninth birthday when her

mother received notice to go immediately to the Leflore County Courthouse to cover a voters’ rights march that Dr. King had arrived to support.

“I have vague memories of being a little bent out of shape about that,” Miller said.

Sara described the event as the first civil rights march to the courthouse.

“It consisted of black students and some old people, only about 11 in all,” she said.

“Most were from out of state and couldn’t

have voted here anyway.” v v v In 1942, Sara went to work at what was then known as the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, serving as secretary to the organization’s director, E.H. “Botts” Blackstone.

“Botts sent the society column from the (Greenwood) Commonwealth to the Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 21

“I was more scared of the KKK than anything the blacks were going to do.”

Sara Criss

Over an eight-year stretch, Sara Criss made about 3,000 dolls, which she and her husband sold at flea markets and fairs as they traveled to cover outof-town events.

Commercial Appeal every week,” Sara said. “I typed it up for him.”

Sara married Russell Criss, whom she had met in Greenville, on his return from service in World War II. Known simply as “Criss,” Russell worked in sales for H.J. Heinz Co. for 34 years, his territory comprising Alabama and Mississippi.

After eight years at the chamber, Sara left when she became pregnant with the couple’s first daughter, Cathy, and the couple was building the house where Sara still lives. But she soon needed more to do and wanted a job that would let her work at home and have flexible hours. In 1951, she called the Commercial Appeal and asked whether she could work as a correspondent for the paper, and she was hired.

Sara typed her stories and took them to Western Union for transmission to the Commercial Appeal.

Paid 14 cents per inch of text for her stories and $5 per photo, Sara quickly learned the art of news photography and photo development. She had a darkroom installed in her home and used a telephoto machine to transmit the negatives to the paper by phone.

The Commercial Appeal had an Associated Press (AP) teletype machine installed in Sara’s kitchen when she was promoted to bureau chief.

22 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Memorabilia from Sara Criss’ life and career as a Commercial Appeal stringer and bureau chief includes an article about her in an issue of Southern Living.

progress toward racial equality “I was the only bureau in pursuing Dr. King’s non-violent Mississippi that was located in a path. Later that night, kitchen,” she said. “Everybody Carmichael, it is said, used the else had an office separate from phrase “black power” for one of home.” the first times in public, urging As with most families, the the marchers to use whatever kitchen was the center of the means were necessary – violent family’s life, so at least the appaor non-violent – to achieve ratus was conveniently located – equality. until it wasn’t.

Sara said she and Criss were Miller recalled that the never so happy to return home.

Commercial Appeal replaced Criss had called the Commercial the machine every couple of Appeal’s editor asking him to years with the latest model. “send men” down to Although the family had carved Greenwood to help with the covout a space for the hulking, erage. “He said, ‘Sara doesn’t noisy contraption, one replaceneed to be out there by herself.’ ment, installed on a day when I was so grateful!” The Crisses Russell Criss was working his Sara Criss owns an extensive collection of World War II memoand the two men the paper sent territory, proved larger than its rabilia. Mississippi Public Broadcasting will feature her in a spent the rest of that night in the predecessors. Criss came home December documentary on Mississippi’s contributions to the kitchen, writing stories and to find the new appliance had country’s war effort. developing and sending photos. eaten his spot for breakfast – his end of the table had disapv v v peared.

But that evening there was no opportunity “That was not a happy homecoming,” to leave.

In most small Southern towns in those Miller said.

“That was the most frightened I have days of turmoil, many facilities were segreDespite grumbling briefly about his disever been,” Sara recalled. Tempers flared. gated, including theaters. Whites attended placement at the breakfast table, Criss often One “hotheaded auxiliary policeman,” she two theaters in downtown Greenwood – the accompanied Sara when she went out on said, tried to choke a photographer with a Paramount Theater, located near the old stories, particularly when her job might have camera strap. “We didn’t know who to run Elks Lodge on Washington, and the Leflore put her in danger. from!”

Sara’s coverage of the civil rights camCarmichael reportedly was becoming frus- Theater, at the corner of Fulton and Washington, where a city parking lot is now paigns in the Mississippi Delta of the 1960s trated and impatient with the lack of offered ample opportunity for Criss to help.

“He was my right arm,” said Sara. “I would have been too scared to go to so many places without him.” v v v In June 1966, James Meredith, who in 1962 had been the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi, undertook a solitary “March Against Fear” from Memphis to Jackson to protest racism. Soon after starting, he was shot and wounded by a sniper. Although he survived, he was unable to continue the march, and other activists, including Dr. King and Stokely Carmichael, decided to finish it for him.

June 16 found the marchers in Greenwood, where about 100 of them, according to Sara, were arrested – including Carmichael. Sara and Criss reached the courthouse about the time of Carmichael’s release, when he and Dr. King appeared at the top of the courthouse steps, addressing the crowd of marchers. The reporter and her “right arm” ended up standing with Carmichael and Dr. King.

Sara said that many events took place at and around the courthouse in those days, and she always knew that if things got too rough, she could duck into ThompsonTurner Drug Store, where the Dawkins Office Supplies & Equipment store is now.

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 23

located. Blacks attended the Walthall Theater on Walthall.

When blacks tried to integrate the Leflore Theater in small groups, Sara said, about 400 to 500 whites often gathered at the service stations on the three corners opposite the theater. They harassed the customers and lobbed fire bombs at them from the dark corners into the light of the theater entrance.

The Ku Klux Klan kept some of the white population stirred up by composing what were known as “Hate Sheets,” Sara said, listing the names of the white people who went to the Leflore Theater even when blacks were attending. The KKK leaders printed the sheets, rolled them up and threw them into the yards of white people at night. “I was more scared of the KKK than anything the blacks were going to do,” said Sara. v v v While Sara’s career high points probably all involved the unsettled racial situation, she still had to cover the routine news events of the day.

For events that required Sara and Criss to travel together, for a period of about eight years or so, Sara often brought along dolls she was making to pass the time in the car, selling them at flea markets and craft fairs for $10 each. Making the dolls relaxed her and gave her a creative outlet, as well as a little extra spending money.

She estimates that she made about 3,000 of the dolls by hand.

Sara retired from the Commercial Appeal in 1981. Russell Criss died in 1992.

Sara’s life now is filled with family – just the way she likes it.

Her older daughter Cathy Adams and her husband, Tom, have a grown son and daughter and live in Birmingham, Ala., where Cathy is a senior editor for the city’s magazine, Protocol, and author of several books. Their son Jeff and his wife, who live in Denver, had twin daughters in August, and Sara is trying to figure out how and when she can meet her first great-grandchildren.

Mary Carol and her husband, Jimmy Miller, a neurosurgeon and lawyer, who also have a grown son and daughter, moved to Greenwood about three years ago from Tupelo. Mary Carol has joined with photographer Mary Rose Carter of Greenwood to author “coffee table” books about historic architecture in Mississippi.

Sara is looking forward to the holidays, when she’ll be able to celebrate another year with as many of her family as can show up at the old homestead. LI

The

Criss to be spokesperson for documentary Sara Criss’ days as a chronicler of events are not over yet. Mississippi Public Broadcasting television is producing a documentary on Mississippi’s contribution to the country’s military build-up before World War II, and Sara Criss will be one of its local spokespersons.

Katie Savage, MPB senior producer-director, said the two-hour documentary will feature air training schools, such as the one established at the Greenwood air base, and ordnance plants all over the state. As secretary for Greenwood Chamber of Commerce Director E.H. “Botts” Blackstone during the 1940s, Sara has a depth of knowledge and experience – and an amazing memory – that Savage said will help bring the local war effort to life.

Other Greenwood folks involved in the production include historian Allan Hammons and photographer Hank Lamb, whose father, Les Lamb, did a great deal of photography at the air base.

“It has been lots of fun to do,” Savage said. “I’m trying to let (the local people) tell the story.”

The documentary is scheduled to run on the evening of Dec. 7. Its working title is “World War II and the Mississippi Experience.”

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Whatever happened to the girl who wrote

‘Ode to Billie Joe’?

BY WILLIAM BROWNING

said, the edges of the story darkening.

The reasons behind Gentry’s vanishing Roberta Lee Streeter waved goodbye to act are as haunting as her best-known song. “That’s how I feel about it. I’m blessed America on Christmas Day 1978. She was with another sister and brother that I’m “She’s estranged from our family,” said 34 years old, known as Bobbie Gentry, and devoted to, so I don’t worry about it.” her sister, Jessye Whitis. “So I probably on “The Tonight Show.” Eleven years Gentry’s stepmother also painted a stark prior, the release of the song “Ode to Billie can’t help much. She’s chose to not have picture, one that seemed to say fame had anything to do with us, to be blunt, and Joe” had made her a star. But stepping off consumed Gentry. that’s fine.”

Johnny Carson’s stage that night, the “We just really woman who grew don’t have anything up in the to do with her now,” Mississippi Delta she said. “She wantstepped into ed to treat her famiobscurity. ly like she treated “That’s such a everyone else – like long story,” her servants and satelstepmother, Edith lites.”

Streeter of Edith Streeter Greenwood, said said her step-daughwhen explaining ter is living in Gentry’s withCalifornia, “somedrawal from pubwhat of a recluse,” lic life. “Some and has recently sufpeople handle fered from failing success good. health.

Well, she didn’t.”

“We just didn’t Gentry attendsee eye-to-eye with ed Greenwood’s how she wanted to Little Red School live her life,” she House from the said. first through sixth One of Bobbie grade.

Gentry’s family Her celebrated members had her esong, “Ode to mail address, but Billie Joe,” is a The albumn cover of Bobbie Gentry’s the former star didbluesy blend of big hit, “Ode to Billie Joe.” n’t respond to a funky guitar and request to be interspooky narrative viewed for this that name-checks story. places around The only thing Leflore County – the lyrics in “Ode Choctaw Ridge, to Billie Joe” make the Tallahatchie clear is this: A Bridge, the Carroll young girl’s family County picture Edith Streeter, Bobbie Gentry’s stepmother is coolly indifferent show. It hit the to a young boy’s suitop of the pop cide. charts, won a The last 30 years of Roberta Lee Whitis, an associate professor of piano Grammy award and inspired a 1976 film of Streeter’s life also make just one thing theory at a college in Texas, said the last the same name. And while no one argues crystal clear: She wants to be left alone. time she saw her sister was “probably 35 it’s a heartbreaking tale, only a liar would Her unknown history seems as sad as claim to understand the song. Is it about an years ago,” at their grandfather’s funeral. her most famous song. LI “I don’t go where I’m not wanted,” she abortion? Interracial love? Homosexuality?

“Some people handle success good.

Well, she didn’t.”

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 25

Jeff Slaughter

Jeff Slaughter is shown here on the Sea of Galilee shooting a video.

ROCKS

Artist leads children in worship

BY RUTH JENSEN

Enter the North Jeff Slaughter shoots a Greenwood Baptist music video in Israel.

Church sanctuary during Vacation Bible School, and you quickly notice that the music is loud, the kids are on their feet, and everybody seems to be having a great time.

All eyes are front and center where Jeff Slaughter is leading children in worship that’s definitely not the VBS of our childhood. Slaughter’s music is upbeat, even “rockish,” and the kids love it.

Slaughter, who grew up in Greenwood and lives in Nashville, returns to his home church each summer to lead the VBS motions. music he has written and choreographed.

“I got an e-mail from someone who had The Greenwood children join about 3 mil- gone to Uganda. They saw 700 Ugandan lion others in the United States and kids singing my songs in a run-down buildCanada, as well as countries around the ing. I sat and cried,” he said. “I’ve gotten world, in enjoying Slaughter’s music and invitations to go to Africa and do kids’ 26 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

events. I want to go to Mozambique.”

Slaughter has now written music for 18 VBS themes published by Lifeway, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, according to Lynne Norris, who is editor of children’s publishing. To Pastor Jim Phillips, Slaughter is “God’s creative genius for Bible School.”

He said some criticized the direction Lifeway took when it enlisted Slaughter to write for VBS in 1996.

To engage today’s techno-saturated children, changes had to be made, but leaders were fearful of making them too drastic.

“At first they were afraid to make it cool and hip,” Slaughter said. “I told them, ‘You’ve got to trust me.’

“I wanted to try to be a star when I moved to Nashville.”

Jeff Slaughter “A lot of pastors freaked out because of the drums and guitars at first,” he said, “but they told Lifeway if the kids think it’s cool, they’ll learn it.”

Although most feedback has been extremely positive, Slaughter said he sometimes is accused of “perverting the Gospel message.” Phillips would disagree with anyone who sees it that way.

“It became apparent Jeff’s main interest is in getting children to draw closer to God,” Phillips said. His coming is “something we look forward to, make a matter of prayer.”

Slaughter’s songs don’t appeal just to children, he said. At least one becomes a churchwide worship piece each year. His mother, Ruth Slaughter, and sister Vicky Bennett and her family get to enjoy it along with the other members of North Greenwood Baptist Church.

Slaughter said he receives “tons” of emails – most of them favorable, and some very memorable. For example, one came from a lady who told about a child named Austin who was killed in an accident three weeks after Bible School was over.

“I was leading ‘Speak Up,’ and he got so into it he asked to come to the stage,” Slaughter recalled.

The song and the experience meant so much to Austin that his mother had it sung at his memorial service, where she said, “I’m so glad he had the courage in his short life to stand up for things.”

After a couple of years of trying to show music leaders how to direct the music by old-fashioned means, Slaughter asked Lifeway to allow him to make a video.

“They said there was no budget. We had one guy with a camcorder at first. People loved it. Each year we had more of a set, and now we go on location.”

This year Lifeway took Slaughter and a video team to Australia and Israel in preparation for next year’s “Boomerang Express.” It’s a testimony to the power of Slaughter’s music and the redesign translated into economic terms, as churches eagerly purchase the VBS material.

Norris said Slaughter has two to three weeks to write and choreograph the music once the biblical themes are in place. “We may adjust a few words, but rarely,” she said. “Jeff has been doing this for us so long now, he understands what we want.”

Music artist Jeff Slaughter, second from left, attends a wedding at North Greenwood Baptist Church.

Standing with Slaughter are, from left, David Lewis of Horn Lake, Cissye Gallagher of Greenwood and Dr. Jim Phillips, pastor at North Greenwood.

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 27

“I want to make the most of my rapport with kids. I’m 43, and they still think I’m cool.”

Jeff Slaughter Slaughter now travels for the SBC International Mission Board as well, making videos, and he is working on a new theme song for the 100th anniversary of Royal Ambassadors, the boys’ mission group in SBC churches.

Besides the work he does with Vacation Bible School, Slaughter stays booked up for events two years in advance. He works without an agent, although he does have a friend who takes care of scheduling. His appearances have included many faiths, such as the time he led worship for the Holy Spirit Catholic Renewal Conference, where 10,000 people were gathered. In 2001 he sang in Italy for a Christian Artists Festival. He and three friends recorded a CD in Italian, and it is being promoted by churches in Italy.

After graduating from Greenwood High School, Slaughter went to Mississippi State University, where he thought he would become a mechanical engineer. That goal didn’t last long. “I decided music is the only thing I’m good at,” he said.

He headed for Belmont College, located at the end of Music Row in Nashville.

There he earned a degree in music performance and got to know several future country music stars. He accompanied Trisha Yearwood on the piano, and the two worked at the Country Music Hall of Fame together.

He taught piano for a time and then went on tour with Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty.

He also played for “Fanfare” and went on the “Sunday Morning Country” television show. From that venue, he was tapped by the Forrester Sisters to go on the road with them.

Later he traveled with Suzy Bogguss for a year, singing backup and playing piano, and then with Kenny Rogers. “I was 28. It was awesome. Everything was first class.”

At one point, Slaughter said, God showed him a different path. “I wanted to try to be a star when I moved to Nashville. The Lord allowed me to taste the things I wanted,” he said. “Suzy (Bogguss) opened for Garth Brooks. At one point we played for 60,000 people. I felt God speak to me during a concert in Louisiana: ‘This is what you’ve always wanted, but I made you for more.’”

Slaughter not only played backup for a number of stars but also taught several to play piano, as well as their children. “I met Faith Hill through a friend who worked for Capitol Records,” he said. “She wanted to learn to play piano. I taught her three times a week.”

He taught Eddie Rabbitt’s children as 28 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

well as Amy Grant’s, and Amy, who remains a good friend.

Through the years, Slaughter has continued to write songs, and several have been recorded by contemporary Christian groups, including “One More Broken Heart” by Point of Grace, which became a number one hit.

Initially, Slaughter’s overtures to Lifeway were rebuffed. “They would always say, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’” he said. But that

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CLOTHIER

211 Fulton Street · Greenwood (662) 453-4411

changed in 1996, as Slaughter was suggested by more than one person to Norris. She had been put in charge of leading the redesign of the VBS material at Lifeway, which serves more than 25,000 churches.

Norris hasn’t regretted the choice.

Slaughter said he has no plans to stop working with children, no matter what other opportunities come his way. “I want to make the most of my rapport with kids. I’m 43, and they still think I’m cool!” LI

Artist

Taylor Ricketts

PHOTOS

BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

and Chef

“I see cooking as an art as well. ... The outcome of food is more short-lived, and art is permanent, but both require care in the creative process.”

Taylor Bowen Ricketts

BY RACHEL HODGE

For Taylor Bowen Ricketts, balancing her creative side as an artist with her career as a chef is sometimes a challenge.

“I’ve always wanted to do both, which has been hard because I’ve put too many things on my plate,” Ricketts said. “Fortunately, they work pretty well together.”

Ricketts is the executive chef and managing partner of Delta Bistro, formerly Delta Fresh Market, and a part-time oil painter.

She explained that her work in the studio is similar to the work she does in the kitchen.

“I see cooking as an art as well. ... The outcome of food is more short-lived, and art is

permanent, but both require care in the creative process,” Ricketts said.

Ricketts was born in Oxford. She lived in Jackson during high school before returning to her hometown to earn an art degree at the University of Mississippi.

She began participating in art shows in college, and after graduating, she created illustrations for various organizations and publications, including Oxford American, the Southern Foodways Alliance, the New York Times and Southern Living.

Ricketts said even before she lived in Greenwood, a lot of the subject matter for her work was inspired by trips to the Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 29

Mississippi Delta. She was interested in the warmth and camaraderie of black Southerners and the emotion of blues and gospel musicians. “It was a way to know what I didn’t know,” Ricketts said.

During her years in Oxford, Ricketts also built her culinary career.

Aside from a “brief encounter” waiting tables, she has always worked in the kitchen. Delta Bistro is the eighth restaurant Ricketts has worked in.

Ricketts said she enjoys experimenting with flavors and presentation but tries to retain that Southern flair, because some of the best recipes come from small-town cooks and cookbooks. “Because I can appreciate that kind of food as well as fivestar cuisine, I can take that, blend it together and find a happy medium,” she said.

Ricketts came to Greenwood in January 2005 with her husband, Darby, and their two daughters, Sela, 9, and Lola, 5, because she thought opening the Viking-affiliated restaurant would be a great opportunity.

She describes the working environment at Delta Bistro as “nurturing and creative.”

“I have the opportunity to listen to what people want, make changes and allow for a creative process,” Ricketts said.

The Delta Fresh Market made the transition to the Delta Bistro in mid-September.

In addition to a new downtown location, other changes include the removal of the retail market, some new menu items and new decor.

“Lots of changes have happened in Greenwood even since I’ve moved here, and I’m hoping to be a part of that,” Ricketts said.

Ricketts said balancing work and art with family life isn’t much of a problem because her husband and daughters all enjoy art and cooking as well. She and her husband currently have a joint show up at City Grocery in Oxford, where it will remain on display through football season.

Ricketts said she uses a variety of media in her artwork, including oil paints, pastels, crayons and ink, and she also likes to use different surfaces to incorporate a sculptural element to her pieces, similar to a collage.

“If I do a portrait of someone, I try to make the background as much a part of the picture as the focal point,” she explained.

She also has created signs for different places, including the sign at Bottletree Bakery in Oxford, which was made of rusted metal and broken glass.

Ricketts describes her work as “real Southern. I try not to get too folk-arty, which is kind of a balancing act,” she said.

She hopes to be able to bring more of this style into Delta Bistro.

“I’m hoping every part of the whole restaurant will be creative,” Ricketts said.

“I’ll be able to focus more on combining the two things I like to do.” LI 30 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

This building on Main Street in downtown Greenwood has been transformed into the home of the Delta Bistro, which opened in midSeptember. The restaurant previously was named Delta Fresh Market and was located on West Park Avenue.

Upshaw, Williams, Biggers, Beckham & Riddick, L.L.P 309 F U LT O N S T R E E T • P.O. D R AW E R 8230 • G R E E N WO O D (662) 455-1613 • FA X : (662) 453-9245 O R (662) 455-7884 W E B S I T E : W W W. U W B B R . C O M

TELEPHONE:

“We should at least value and respect the character of the structure of the Greenwood Underpass for its significance to the period 1938 to 1940.”

Marion Howard

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Underpass

brought the world to Greenwood

BY JO ALICE DARDEN

During a community clean-up project, Marion Howard discovered the significance of a hidden treasure in Greenwood – a structure that opened the city to the rest of the world for shopping and tourism and growth and optimism. This structure connects the city’s history to its future.

People in Greenwood are used to seeing Howard around town. For several years, she was chairman of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce’s Community Pride Committee. Hundreds of folks have participated in the committee’s twice-a-year community clean-up effort.

In 2006, Howard’s clean-up project group was working on the Greenwood Underpass on Main Street, when the team members began discussing its history – or trying to.

“Our group members were too young or not native or hadn’t lived here long enough to remember when the underpass was

D

built,” Howard said. “We started talking about it and found out no one really knew the significance of the structure.”

Howard recalled going with dates and friends after dances to the Dixie Café, which was near the underpass and next door to a “Fill-up with Billups” gas station. But who pays attention to architectural history when you’re out having a good time with high school friends?

After the clean-up project in 2006, Howard, a Greenwood native who has never lived anywhere else, decided to look into the history. Why was the underpass there? Who built it? When?

Checking for deeds, she learned the Greenwood Underpass was the result of a 1938 contract between the Illinois Central Railroad Co., now owned by Canadian National, and the Mississippi State Highway Commission. She got a copy of the contract

from the railroad.

“Then I wanted to see the plans,” Howard said. Who would have them? She kept digging. Benny Herring, director of the Greenwood Public Works Department, offered some help.

“There’s a vault in the old Public Works building near City Park,” Howard said.

“Benny opened it up for me, and I was simply overwhelmed.” The history contained within those musty old walls was absolutely staggering.

“I was consumed by plans and maps, up to my knees and over my head for three days,” Howard said. “I can’t think of anything to compare to the moment I found the plans – those exquisite hand-drawn plans.

The thrill was incredible. I’d found a diamond in the rough.” Herring made copies of the plans and returned the original set to the vault.

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 31

The next step was to put the underpass into historical perspective. world to visit, joyfully optimistic for its growth and expansion through increased commerce and tourism. A special edition of the Howard went to the Greenwood-Leflore Public Library, where she Commonwealth, distributed June 5, 1940, by the paper and the spent several weeks examining microfiche related to the building Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, as it was known then, laid project. She found its story had been covered extensively by The out plans for “a unique but highly commodious shopping service, Greenwood Commonwealth. Here are some high points of the disto be found in no other city in the south,” involving a check room coveries Howard made. for packages and a lounge where the weary shopper might refresh An article in the Commonwealth titled “Let’s Talk about an herself between visits to stores.

Underpass” mentions that on Sept. 7, 1930, nearly 200 cars waited The Greenwood Underpass was designed to be a work of art. while one long freight train rumbled through the Carrollton Avenue Train stations of the period were constructed and appointed in the crossing. But the Great Depression was hitting hard, and no money Art Deco style of the 1920s and 1930s, which incorporated angles was available for such an improvement. and straight lines that reflected modern, streamlined efficiency The 1935 Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, approved by with a dash of glamour.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, provided funds to improve highInspired by the design of these train stations, the Greenwood ways in general and specifically to eliminate rail grade crossings. This Underpass, according to Howard’s research, is the only one conact established massive public works programs, including the Works structed in Mississippi during that era, with a four-lane divided Progress Administration, or WPA, which provided work for millions roadway and two pedestrian sidewalks, that is still in use as a railof the Depression-era jobless. way today, with three tracks running atop the underpass. On the The contract for the Greenwood Underpass – the excavation west side of the bridge, was engineered for the the concrete pump highway to pass under house, necessary for the existing railroad tracks The Greenwood Underpass as it appeared in 1940 with drainage of the roadbed, – was awarded in the Crouse-Hinds lighting units in the parkway median. was also constructed in September 1938, and the Art Deco style. work began that fall. At Only a couple of the same time, changes have been Greenwood and Leflore made to the underpass.

County capitalized on the The parkway median available WPA funding by strip was originally lined replacing heavily traveled with about two dozen gravel roads with concrete concrete lighting units and brick construction made by Crouse-Hinds and rerouting the (now Cooper Crouseentrances of U.S. 49 and Hinds), and there were U.S. 82 into Greenwood. lights along the inside The cost estimate to walls of the underpass, build the underpass was as well. These have dis$400,000. Today it would appeared, and Howard run about $6 million. has not been able to learn what happened to them. Also, the park The Commonwealth documented the construction project way was shortened a bit at each end to allow drivers to turn east daily in journal entries called “This Day: Being Fact and and west off Main Street more easily.

Comment on Greenwood, Leflore County, and Mississippi.”

The city’s optimism for increased commerce was fulfilled – but The major contractors included Guthrie & Co. of St. Paul, not so much in the way the city planners had expected. The two Minn.; Service Construction Co. of Arkansas; Sandy Hites Co. of federal highways that crossed in Greenwood, made remarkably Kansas City, Mo.; and Massman Construction Co., also of Kansas City, which assumed the contract when Hites defaulted. Massman accessible by the new underpass that allowed free travel without delays caused by passing trains, were completed just in time for was working on the Mississippi River Bridge at Greenville at the World War II. So the newly efficient ease of railway and road transtime and is now helping build the new bridge spanning the river. port and, later, the expansion of the Greenwood Airport, now the Service Construction Co. also defaulted, allowing the local O.J. Stanton construction company the opportunity to acquire its heavy site of the Industrial Park, brought a boom to the city that was more war-related than shopper-centric. equipment and complete this and other projects in Leflore In 1953, the construction of the U.S. 82-49 Bypass diverted County. highway traffic away from downtown and the Greenwood Local administrators involved in the project included Eli Underpass. A slow decline in downtown commerce resulted in the Abbott, the civil engineer who was the principal architect of the closing of many stores in the 1970s and 1980s as businesses moved project, as well as an engineer for the city, county and state; and toward the outlying areas served by the bypass. two of his sons, Charles G. Abbott and Frank Abbott. Eli Abbott’s But the birth of Viking Range Corp. – which brought with it approval signature is on each of the 15 pages of plans for the Viking’s headquarters, The Alluvian Hotel and Spa, and the underpass and the 22 pages of plans for related highway and Viking Cooking School, all located downtown – has encouraged roadbed work. the area to blossom again, with new and renovated shops, restau When both the extensive highway reconstruction and the rants, offices and even residential properties. Once again, optiwork on the underpass were completed in 1940, travelers for the mism for growth and expansion invites locals and tourists to samfirst time could drive north and south between the Mississippi ple what Greenwood has to offer.

Gulf Coast and the Tennessee state line without leaving U.S. 49, “There isn’t a need to remember all the history,” Howard said. and east and west on U.S. 82 all the way across the state between “But we should at least value and respect the character of the Alabama and Arkansas. The Commonwealth suggested naming structure of the Greenwood Underpass for its significance to the these ribbons of highway “The Delta Route” for tourism traffic period 1938 to 1940. It can take you from one optimistic point in and shoppers eager to spend their money in Greenwood. time to the optimistic cycle of today.” LI When the underpass was complete, Greenwood invited the 32/ Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Fall and Winter Events 4 – Mississippi Blues Fest, Leflore County Civic Center, 7 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

18 – Mississippi Valley State University Homecoming, 1 p.m., Rice-Totten Stadium, MVSU vs. Savannah State 24 – Halloween costume party at The Alluvian, featuring food and live music benefitting Downtown Greenwood Farmers Market, 7 until 11 p.m.

31 – Mississippi Valley State University’s Doug Porter Athletic Scholarship Banquet

NOVEMBER 1 – Mississippi Valley State University Hall of Fame Game, 1 p.m., Rice-Totten Stadium, MVSU vs. Grambling State 4 – Citywide Holiday Open House, at participating merchants around Greenwood, 5 p.m.

22 – Mississippi Valley State University Take-A-Kid-To-The-Game Day, 1 p.m., Rice-Totten Stadium, MVSU vs. Alabama A&M

Business Education Building Auditorium April 22: MVSU Symphonic-Wind Band Spring Concert, 7:30 p.m., Carpenter April 22: Administrative Professional Days, 11 a.m., Rec Center; $10 April 23: Founder's Day Convocation, 10 a.m., Carpenter April 24: Tenth Annual J.H. White Preeminence Awards and Scholarship Gala; Silent Auction, 5:30 p.m., Gala, 7 p.m., $75, Harrison HPER April 25: Valley Fest, Noon - 4 p.m.

Webster’s Food & Drink

OCTOBER

DECEMBER 4 – Leflore County Courthouse lighting, 4:30 p.m.

5 – Roy Martin Delta Band Festival (Theme: “The 12 Days of Christmas”), 3 p.m.

FEBRUARY 18 – Black History Convocation, 10 a.m., H.G. Carpenter Auditorium, Mississippi Valley State University 27 – Mississippi Valley State University Women In Science and Technology Conference, Social Science Auditorium

APRIL 9-10 – Mississippi Valley State University 29th Social Work Conference 10-11 – River to the Rails Festival, downtown Greenwood 13-16 – Mississippi Valley State University International Week 18 – Mississippi Valley State University’s 14th Annual Piano Festival, Walter Sillers Fine Arts Center 19-24 – Mississippi Valley State University Founder's Week April 20: Founder's Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., H.M. Ivy Cafeteria, Dining Hall IV, $10 April 21: Alumni Forum, 10 a.m.,

210 W. Claiborne Ave.

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 33

E AT?

Hungry?

You’re at the right place.

Whether you’re searching for traditional Southern fare or something more exotic, restaurants in Greenwood and the surrounding area offer a delightful experience for every palate.

The immigrant influences — Italian, Greek, Chinese, Lebanese, Hispanic — and the cooking traditions of the AfricanAmerican population blend to create a savory menu of dining options.

Take a look.

2

WHERE

China Blossom 917 Hwy. 82 West Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Chinese & American Full Bar Hours of operation: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (Sunday), 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Monday-Thursday), 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. (Friday & Saturday) Price range (per person ):

Lunch: under $10 Dinner: $10-$20 Children’s menu

Handicapped accessible Phone: (662) 453-3297

Crystal Grill 423 Carrollton Avenue Greenwood

Type of cuisine: American Full Bar Hours of operation: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Tuesday - Sunday)

Price range (per person ): Lunch: $10-$20 Dinner: $10-$20 Children’s menu

Handicapped accessible Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 453-6530

Giardina’s 314 Howard Street Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Italian (Fine Dining) Full Bar, Occasional Live Music Hours of operation: 11a.m.-2p.m. (Lunch), 5-10p.m. (Dinner) Price range (per person ): Lunch: $8-$15 Dinner:$20-$40 (per entree) Children’s menu, Outdoor dining area for smokers

Handicapped accessible Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 455-4227 Web site: www.giardinas.com E-mail: giardinas@giardinas.com

34 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Carroll County Market 607-608 Lexington Street Carrollton

Type of cuisine: BBQ, Steak, Seafood, Wood-Fired Pizza Wine Menu Hours of operation: 5-9 p.m. (Thursday), 5-10 p.m. (Friday & Saturday) Live Entertainment: Saturday, 8 p.m. -midnight Price range (per person ):

Dinner $10-$30, Children’s menu Reservations recommended Outdoor smoking patio, Handicapped accessible

Phone: (662) 237-1131

North Carrollton Fish & Steak House

Veronica’s Custom Bakery

North Carrollton

Greenwood

202 1/2 Hemmingway

Type of cuisine: Seafood, Steaks, Fried Catfish Hours of operation: 5 p.m until Wednesday thru Saturday, special parties

Price range (per person ): Dinner: $10-$15 Children’s menu Handicapped accessible Occasional live music Outdoor smoking patio Phone: (662) 237-0370

222 Howard Street

Type of cuisine: Soup, Salad, Sandwiches and Pastries Hours of operation:

10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Tuesday-Saturday) Closed January Price range (per person):

Lunch: under $10 Children’s menu Outdoor dining for smokers Phone: (662) 451-9425 E-mail: 3deuces@bellsouth.net Web site: www.threedeuces.net

Lusco’s

722 Carrollton Avenue Greenwood

Type of cuisine: American with an Italian flare Beer and Setups: You may bring your own wine or liquor.

Hours of operation: 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

(Tuesday-Saturday)

Price range (per person): Dinner $10-$30 Handicapped accessible Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 453-5365

Mai Little China 617 West Park Ave.

Highland Park Shopping Center Greenwood

Type of cuisine:Fusion Beer and Set-ups Hours of operation: Lunch: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Dinner: 5 p.m.-9 p.m.

Price range (per person ): Lunch: under $10 Dinner: $10-$30 Children’s menu

Handicapped accessible Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 451-1101

Blue Parrot Café 222 Howard Street Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Fine Latin Cuisine Full Bar Hours of operation: 6-10 p.m. (Friday & Saturday) Seasonal: Open Thanksgiving to New Year’s, Closed January, Open Easter to Labor Day Price range (per person ):

Dinner: $15-$25 Handicapped accessible Occasional live music Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 451-9430 E-mail: 3deuces@bellsouth.net

Web site: www.threedeuces.net

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 35

Offroad recipes

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS Leroy “Spooney” Kenter grills mouth-watering ribs on his grill outside his business on East Johnson Street.

Favorite foods right here in Leflore County

BY RUTH JENSEN

Spooney’s Barbecue Many Deltans have their favorite Memphis barbecue restaurant, but outstanding barbecue is as close as 112 E. Johnson St., where Spooney’s Barbecue is located. A Google search of Spooney’s brings up 58 sites extolling the virtues of Leroy “Spooney” Kenter’s mouthwatering ribs and other favorites he cooks in his small café. Kenter says he doesn’t even need a Web site, since people who discover his barbecue often add his place to their sites.

It only takes a bite or two of the slightly spicy and oh-so-tender ribs to make a Spooney convert out of a barbecue lover. He makes his own rub and sauce from scratch, and they are just right.

Kenter has several years of college, and he tried other occupations, but he always came back to cooking. He believes it’s his calling. “I have two brothers; one’s an electrician and one’s a carpenter. I told one, ‘You have your calling; what do you think mine is?’ He said, ‘When you cook I see a light on your face. You put a lot of love into it.’”

Kenter has a variety of favorite Delta foods on the menu at his business on East Johnson Street.

36 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

During a stint in Kansas City, Kan., Kenter worked for a wellknown barbecue restaurant, where he cooked large quantities of barbecue. He said people would ask whether Spooney was cooking.

“Other cooks would ask, ‘Why anybody want to know is Spooney cooking? We use the same seasonings.’ I had the art to it,” he said with a smile and a gleam in his eye.

Tourists come from far and near to check out his art. Spooney has mementos of tourists from Thailand, Alaska, New Orleans and elsewhere.

“One man and his wife came in from California on their way somewhere to a party,” he said. “The man said he had to get his wife here: ‘She’s been waiting to meet you.’”

Some tourists hear about Spooney’s through the written word in addition to the Internet. His barbecue has been featured in several national publications, the 2005 edition of the travel guide “Lonely Planet Road Trip” and the Turner South TV show “3 Day Weekend.”

Kenter said he gets a lot of business by word of mouth. “The Alluvian sends me business. The tourists keep me going.”

He also gets a boost out of various special events, such as River to the Rails, held annually in Greenwood.

“I love it. I run out and people start fussing at me,” he said. This year he also participated in the Tallahatchie Flats Summer Music Festival. “I bring people out,” he brags.

Kenter started cooking in his mom’s kitchen. “She baked cakes, and she got tired of me messing up her floors. She put me out of her kitchen. She made me a stand in front of the house.”

He kept that stand running for a while but decided to open a café downtown so he could get more traffic. He says he kept them both going but finally closed the stand, located in Baptist Town. However, he said he is thinking about reopening that stand while keeping his main place of business.

The Johnson Street location is small, with just a few tables. There’s nothing fancy there – just down-home good eating.

“People say it’s comfortable,” Kenter said.

“What I enjoy best is a smile on a face and an empty plate. I’ve done a good job. That’s my joy!”

Spooney can be reached at (662) 6990274.

Annie Pearl Johnson makes about 35 dozen of the best hot tamales around each week.

Among her customers are Giardina’s and Flatland Grill, as well as many locals who purchase them on a regular basis.

Pearl’s Hot Tamales About once a week Annie Pearl Johnson cranks out some 35 or so dozen of the best hot tamales around. Her customers include Giardina’s and Flatland Grill, as well as many locals who purchase Mrs. Johnson’s tamales on a regular basis.

Mrs. Johnson has been cooking the delicious concoctions for at least 25 years. Each batch takes about six hours minimum to make and wrap, she said. “I start when I get off work and finish up about midnight.”

Her tamales are shaped with the help of a machine, which she turns by hand. “I hear there’s an electric one, but it costs an arm and a leg,” she said. Her recipe hasn’t changed through the years. “I learned from Mrs. Katie McClain.” Johnson once made 300 dozen a day at Lucas’ Barbecue Stand, on the corner of Percy Street and Avenue F. They were sold then for $3 a dozen. Now she sells them for $5.50.

Mrs. Johnson works at her daughter’s restaurant, Reno’s Café. She has six children, four in Greenwood, but none wants to take over the tamale making, she said. She has no plans to give it up anytime soon, though.

“I like it. It’s a little extra change for me.

When I get to where I can’t work anymore, I can still do this,” she said.

Her customers hope they can rely on Pearlie Johnson’s hot tamales for years to come.

Mrs. Johnson can be reached at 453-1192 or 455-6284.

PJ’s Catfish Parker Johnson has been cooking catfish for a long time, but his cooking has snowballed in the past four or five years.

“We started cooking catfish for our customers at Johnson Implement,” he said.

“People got wind of it, and we started going

all around, here and there, sometimes Jackson. Then, the last four or five years we started cooking for Viking a couple of times a year, and then Ole Miss and Mississippi State.”

Johnson says he can cook catfish for up to a thousand people with his mobile equipment. Despite his staying busy cooking, he didn’t really have a name for his business until Steve LaVere dubbed him “PJ’s Catfish” for the Tallahatchie Flats Summer Music Festival.

It takes only four people to turn out enough catfish with all the trimmings to feed a few hundred or a thousand, Johnson said.

He loves telling people the catfish come from Itta Bena producer Heartland Catfish and were swimming yesterday. “It’s fresh.”

Johnson loves cooking catfish. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it.”

To contact Parker Johnson, call 453-8895.

What’s Cooking Catering Mary Lindsey Killebrew says she has cooked since she was about 4 years old. “I have a picture of me making tacos.”

Now she is more likely to make tons of

pimento cheese and chicken salad for sandwiches, which she sells at her sandwich shop, What’s Cooking, at 309 West Park, each day. One sandwich she created has become a favorite of her customers – the Nemo, which consists of crisp bacon and tomato with homemade pimento cheese on homemade breads, white or wheat.

Killebrew also is known, according to her dad, Parker Johnson, for a sheet cake “that will hurt you.” She makes desserts, including strawberry, coconut and caramel pound cakes as well as various types of pies.

When she opened the sandwich shop a couple of years ago, she had a very small area for customers. After another business moved, though, she was able to rent more space and knock out a wall to expand her shop to accommodate customers who pour in at lunch each day. She makes extras to keep her cooler stocked for people who want to pick up something on the way home.

Killebrew said she loves making up her own recipes and hardly ever uses a cookbook, except for inspiration. Her customers look forward to more. What’s Cooking Catering can be reached at 455-4747. LI Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 37

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HOG WILD! Gentlemen enjoy

thrill of the hunt

BY BILL BURRUS

The fun doesn’t really get started until the dogs start howling. That’s the way veteran hog hunter Danny Ratliff of Cruger sees it.

Ratliff is known throughout the Mississippi Delta and beyond for his hog hunting skills and his relentless pack of hog dogs. He gets calls from hunting clubs on the Mississippi River and even southern parts of the state to kill off hogs after each deer season.

“I’ve killed somewhere in the neigborhood of about 900 hogs since I started this about six years ago,” said Ratliff, who hunts hogs every weekend from February until the end of September.

Ratliff has 15 hog dogs — mainly catahoulas and mountain curs — seven fully trained and eight puppies in training for next year. Ratliff, a taxidermist, trains his own dogs but will sometimes buy a few out of Louisiana.

“My favorite part of this sport is watching the dogs work and listening to them bay a hog. My dogs pretty much run silent, so when they start barking, you get a rush because you know they’ve got a hog bayed,” said Ratliff, 48.

Joey Greco, a timber consultant, holds on to “Junior,” who is part catahoula and part mountain cur, prior to a recent hog hunt.

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

“You know business is about to pick up once you hear those dogs.

Sometimes you can hear the dogs and pigs hollering.”

Michael Mims, hog hunter Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 39

At left, from left, brothers Danny Ratliff and Dennis Ratliff of Cruger call up the dogs after a run on a hog. Above, Danny Ratliff rides along on his four-wheeler hollering for his dogs who are trying to pick up a scent on a hog.

Hog hunter Michael Mims of Money agrees: “You know buisiness is about to pick up once you hear those dogs. Sometimes you can hear the dogs and pigs hollering.

Often times the dogs will pin the hog down and you have to harvest it with a knife.”

Ratliff says experienced hog dogs know which hogs they can jump on and which to bay.

“They pretty much know which ones to lay off. Then they will surround him, and if the hog runs, the dogs will nip them “This is in the back end and keep them at about the he explained. only hunting bay,” “This is about the you can do only hunting left you can do with with dogs dogs and not interand not inter- fere with other fere with folks’ hunting.”

Steve other folks’ Flemming of hunting.”

Cruger has been Danny Ratliff hunting on a regular basis with Ratliff for about five years on Flemming’s family land a few miles east of Cruger. Flemming enjoys the sport for many reasons.

“I enjoy watching and listening to the dogs run the hogs because we used to hunt deer with dogs. It’s something different,” he said. “I like the fellowship and fun that goes along with it. We have tales of hog hunting just like we do for deer and other types of hunting. Some funny. Some not so funny.

“But one of the biggest things about hog hunting is trying to cut down on the pig 40 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

population in our woods. I am a deer hunting fanatic, and we know what a negative impact the hogs can have on a deer herd.”

Flemming and Ratliff started out hunting mainly from the end of deer season in late January to the start of turkey season in mid-March, but now they hunt through

September – halting the pursuit of the hogs just before the start of archery season for deer.

“We’ve hunted pretty hard the last three or four summers since Danny got a pretty big pack of dogs. We killed more this summer than any other, about 60,” Flemming said. LI

From point to point to

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Point Leflore

BY JO ALICE DARDEN

Moving a three-story home is no easy feat, as Ralph Guy Smith and his wife Sheri will attest. In the early 1980s, they acquired a large, historic home with a locally familiar story that was about to be destroyed to make way for the construction of the current Greenwood-Leflore Public Library at the corner of Washington and Cotton streets.

And before the house was originally built, another house had to be moved to make room for it.

Built by merchant Richard Terrell Jones around 1910, the mansion was designed by celebrated local architect Frank R. McGeoy.

He designed, among other structures, the First United Methodist Church, Wesley United Methodist Church, the Jewish synagogue and the Southworth house on Mississippi Avenue.

According to newspaper accounts of the transactions, the Joneses were living in a house at the corner of Washington and Cotton when they decided to build the three-story, 8,800-square-foot Colonial-style mansion on the same lot. The couple had the smaller home moved one lot west on Washington, to the corner of Henderson Street. They remained in that residence

This view of the formal dining room shows the dark wood that is found throughout the Smith home just off Money Road.

The stately home of Ralph Guy and Sheri Smith sits off Money Road. The home, built in 1910, was moved from downtown Greenwood to its current location.

through the move and until the mansion was complete.

“They will not be disturbed by the transit,” said one article.

The same could not be said about moving the mansion some 70 years later.

“We had to cut it up into pieces,” Smith said. That was accomplished by Robert Utroska, whom Smith called his “expert” in house moving. “I learned so much from that man.”

Piece by piece, the house was moved

east through downtown Greenwood, north across the Veterans Memorial Bridge – “We had to take the only bridge without a top,” Smith said – west to Grand Boulevard, and north all the way up the boulevard, across the Tallahatchie River on Money Road and east to Point Leflore on what is now County Road 150.

The move took about six months, Smith said. Once the pieces were on the Point Leflore property, it took Smith another five months to rebuild the kitchen, the den and the downstairs bedrooms and baths so his family could move in. He would complete the rest of the reconstruction after they were living there. v v v Greenwood residents who “go back” far enough may recall some of the mansion’s owners. The Joneses sold it to Gen. S.R. Keesler, a cotton merchant who served as president of the Leflore County Board of Supervisors and later mayor of Greenwood.

Smith said many people will remember it as “the old Keesler place.” Attorney Fred Witty bought it from Keesler; it was the Knight Funeral Home and residence for a time; then the Cottonlandia Museum operated there before moving to its current location on U.S. 82.

Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 41

The Greenwood-Leflore Public Library finally bought the property as the site of its new structure, across Washington from its older building, and Smith took the house from the library.

“The move was a challenge,” Smith said, “but I don’t regret it. We raised three children in that house.”

Smith is a native Greenwoodian. He met his wife, the former Sheri Hall of New Albany, while they were teaching in the 1960s; they married in 1968. Their children are Sherilyn, a speech pathologist with two children, now living in New Albany; MaryOuida, a dentist with triplets in Collierville, Tenn.; and Ralph Guy Jr., who attends Northeast Mississippi Community College

after serving two tours in Iraq.

Smith’s mother, Elma R. Smith, now 103 years old, owned land near Point Leflore, where the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha rivers join to form the Yazoo. Smith bought land close by so he could move the house there.

In real estate and construction for many years, specializing in farmland, timberland and hunting properties, Smith did most of the reconstruction and modernization work himself.

With two staircases, seven bedrooms, five baths, several parlors and foyers and three fireplaces, the house was a work-in-progress for a long time. The third floor, Smith said, was designed as a ballroom, but it was never finished as such; he put in a bedroom and

bath on that floor.

With a curved balcony and two enormous porches – and two seven-foot swings Smith built – the house features 12 columns, which Smith explained that Jones had built to represent the 12 Apostles. Tall trees around the property help keep the home cool in the summer heat.

Now that the children are grown and gone, Ralph Guy and Sheri divide their time between the house at Point Leflore and Sheri’s family home in New Albany. He believes the place would make a “beautiful bed-and-breakfast property” if someone is interested in buying and converting it.

The house probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. LI

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Roy Martin Delta Band Festival

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Christmas in the Delta

BY JENNY HUMPHRYES

2008 parade marshals Martha Geeslin, left, and Dr. Arthur Kinnard, right, reminisce about parades past with Glen Stevens, co-chairman of the Roy Martin Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade.

In

There’s an old saying that everyone loves a parade, and that is more evident each year as Roy Martin Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade time rolls around.

Greenwood’s annual festival was started in 1935 by the Jaycees and directed by former Greenwood High School band director Roy Martin.

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Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 43

“This is a parade town.”

Viola Sanders, 2007 grand marshal

Viola Sanders, the 2007 grand marshal of the Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade, has participated in the event most of her life. “There’s nothing in this world I love better than a parade, especially when I’m in it.

“The Christmas parades in this town are put on by excellent, talented people, and the town really awaits this happening every year in eager anticipation. People love parades.

It’s just one of those things,” Sanders said.

“This is a parade town.”

OOO Chairman Bobby Fisher, who has been organizing the annual event since 1991, couldn’t agree more.

While he was growing up in Drew, his family came to the parade every year. It connected Greenwood to all the other small towns in the Delta, Fisher said.

Although the Jaycees sponsored the event, Martin handled the logistics and invited all the bands. Fisher said Martin chose the second Friday after

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS The University of Southern Mississippi band crosses the Keesler Bridge in the Roy Martin Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade. Each year a visiting college band is invited to put on a concert in the morning and march in the parade that afternoon.

Thanksgiving for the parade because Martin’s grandmother told him it never rained that day.

“And it has been a good day. There have been very few rains on that day,” Fisher said.

PHOTO BY DR. ARTHUR KINNARD

Cindy Goza marches with a dance troop from Martha Geeslin School of Dance during a recent Roy Martin Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade. Goza’s mother, Martha Geeslin, was in the very first parade, and Goza marched in the parade as a member of the Greenwood High School band during her high school years.

44 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

OOO

Martha Geeslin, who will be one of the grand marshals of the parade this year along with Dr. Arthur Kinnard, was in the very first Delta Band Festival in 1935 as a member of the pep squad at Greenwood High School. She later marched as drum major of the Greenwood band, and for years members of the Martha Geeslin School of Dance troupes have participated in the parade.

Geeslin, who was 12 years old when the first parade took place, said she was “excited to death” about it.

Her daughter, Cindy Goza, began marching in the parade as a youngster. She graduated from Pillow Academy in 1968 but attended Greenwood High during most of high school. “It was big when I was coming up,” she said. “I was head majorette, and we had bands from all over.

And they were good bands.”

As a member of the Greenwood High School Band, which was the host band, Goza said, “We felt proud. We would hold our head high. We felt like we were king of the world.

“It was just a big thing, and we couldn’t wait to have band festival day,” she said.

“Everybody was friendly and happy, and we hated for it to be over with.”

Kinnard, who has enjoyed the parade for several decades, said the parade is a good thing for Greenwood, and it brings so many people to the city.

OOO Fisher said Martin’s whole concept for the parade was to promote Mississippi bands and allow them to come together for one big event.

“The college bands would put on a concert for the high school bands at Davis School in the mornings,” Fisher said.

In the early years, there was a morning parade and a night parade, and band members would hang out in downtown Greenwood all day, Fisher said.

The Ole Miss and Mississippi State bands also alternated years coming to the festival.

“And Mississippi Valley has participated ever since they’ve been there as well,” Fisher said.

Once the number of bands began to increase, Fisher and his committee then focused on getting more floats in the parade.

The Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau took over the fireworks display, which freed up money to help pay for bands.

“To bring in a big college band is about $10,000 a year,” Fisher said.

Now the big college band does a concert for the high school bands the morning of the parade at the Leflore County Civic Center.

Three years ago, a percussion explosion was added, and it also has been a big hit.

The MVSU band has been a standing feature of the day, along with visiting bands that have included Grambling, LouisianaMonroe, Jackson State, Delta State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

This year, Delta State University will be the featured band.

OOO

Being chairman of the parade, Fisher said he has never been able to watch the parade like the families who line the parade route.

But when one of his sons was small, Fisher would put him up on his shoulders and carry him around while he was doing the lineup. “I told him I was making him a parade,” he said.

Remembering the parade’s glory days from his youth gave him a good incentive to put on a good show for his children. “I wanted my kids to grow up with it just like I had,” he said. LI

OOO

After the Jaycees became defunct, the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce took the event on. For a few years during the transition period, the festival declined, Fisher said.

In 1990, as vice chairman of the Leadership Tomorrow committee, Fisher asked the leadership class to study the festival and see why its popularity had dropped.

“That year, there were no bands from outside of Leflore County in the parade,” Fisher said.

In 1991, former Mayor Harry Smith, who was in the hierarchy of the chamber at the time, asked Fisher to take over as parade chairman. Fisher said he agreed to put everything he had into revitalizing the festival.

The leadership class found that one reason for the decline had been that the festival had gotten away from having college bands put on a show for the high school bands. That year Fisher couldn’t get an entire college band to come, but he got part of a band to come and do clinics at Greenwood High School.

The second thing Fisher looked at was the route, which had become outdated. The parade was winding around streets downtown that no longer had businesses on them.

“So we decided to play with the route and straighten it out, which was much better for the bands. That’s when we started to come down Grand Boulevard,” Fisher said.

Money to get the bands to Greenwood also was an issue. So travel grants were instituted to help bands secure buses and make the trip. “We went the first year from having no out-of-county bands to having five the next year,” he said.

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A Delta Tradition Since 1976 Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009 / 45

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46 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

FALL AND WINTER 2008-2009

The index

of advertisers Ad page

Ad page ARCHITECTS Beard + Riser Design

ARTS & CRAFTS Artrageous Studio

33

ATTORNEYS Upshaw, Williams, Biggers, Beckham & Riddick

30 45

BEAUTY SALONS Tangles

38

BOOKS Turnrow Book Co.

Wade, Inc.

10

CHILDCARE

First South Farm Credit

Ashley Furniture Port Eliot

43 15,46

GIFTS

20

GLASS

13

North Greenwood Baptist Church

17

CLOTHING 45 2, 46 42 2, 46 43 43 28, 46

COMPUTERS 38 27

COUNTY GOVERNMENT Leflore County Board of Supervisors

38

Dr. Todd Fincher inside front cover Greenwood Leflore Hospital 5 Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center 12 Sunflower Home Health 10

HOME APPLIANCES J.D. Lanham Supply Co.

40 27 38

23

JEWELRY Clevenger Jewelry & Gifts Jewelry, Etc. Lynbar Jewelers

MANUFACTURING Viking Range Corp.

9, 46 42 15, 46

inside front cover

MOTELS America’s Best Inn & Suites

38

MUSEUMS Cottonlandia Museum

ELDERLY LIVING Indywood Glen Riverview Nursing & Rehabilitation

Mobile Auto Glass

38 42

HEALTH CARE

Episcopal Church of the Nativity, The

Delta Correctional Facility

19

FURNITURE

Susie M. Brooks Childcare Center

CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

PRINTING

Williams & Lord Funeral Home 38 Wilson & Knight Funeral Home 38

Mississippi Gift Co., The Gift Box, The

Patmar Computers, Inc.

24

FUNERAL HOME

20

Abraham’s Anthony’s Caterpillars & Butterflies Ola’s Shoes Puddleducks Simply Elegant Smith & Co.

Jennings Photography Lamb’s Photography Print Shop, The

Advanced Fitness Center

Learning Tree, The

CHURCHES

13

FINANCIAL FITNESS

AUTOMOTIVE RENTAL Get Away Rental, A

PHOTOGRAPHY

FARM EQUIPMENT 27

38

NEWSPAPER Greenwood Commonwealth

24 15 10

REAL ESTATE Bowie Realty DuBard Realty

8 15

RESTAURANTS Blue Parrot Cafe‘ Carroll County Market China Blossom Crown, The Crystal Grill Giardina’s Honest Abe’s Donut & Deli North Carrollton Fish & Steak House

30, 35 34 34 45 34 34 38

Lusco’s Mai Little China Veronica’s Custom Bakery

35 35 30, 35

Webster’s

33

35

SCHOOLS Mississippi Valley State University St. Francis School

back cover 28

STAFFING SERVICES EMI Staffing Services, Inc.

13

SWIMMING POOLS Pinkston-Seablue

19

TOURISM Greenwood Convention & Visitors Bureau Main Street Greenwood

19 19

UTILITIES inside back cover

PERFORMING ARTS Bologna Performing Arts Center

Ad page

24

Greenwood Utilities

2

VETERINARIANS Greenwood Animal Hospital 38 Four Paws Animal Health Center 38

· index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers ·

· index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers ·

index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers · index of advertisers

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Fall and Winter 2008-2009 Leflore Illustrated / 47

Main Street Greenwood

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Building on success

Foy pleased with efforts in ongoing projects

BY DAVID MONROE

After more than two years as executive director of Main Street Greenwood, Lise Foy remains enthusiastic about her work.

“From day one, I’ve been excited about this job,” she said. “It’s fun! And I still feel that way — maybe even more so now because I’ve learned a lot of the history of the community and about our architectural history, and I’m able to talk to different tour groups.”

Her organization has plenty going on.

The Downtown Greenwood Farmers Market debuted to great success, attracting growers from all over the area, including Itta Bena, Vaiden, Winona and Belzoni.

Proceeds from sales of T-shirts, bags and bottled water went back into the market, allowing it to offer live entertainment.

Foy said she was pleased with the steady crowds the market drew on Saturdays.

Vendors were even able to generate some repeat business with customers who were pleased with their products.

“I just think it’s been very successful. I really do,” she said. “A lot of positive response from the community, and people are supporting it.”

The market earned Mississippi Certified Farmers Market status from the state Department of Agriculture. “When the man came to look and talked to the growers and everything, he was very impressed,” Foy said.

She said she would love to have more vendors there, and organizers have discussed adding cooking demonstrations and safety presentations next year.

The Alluvian will have a Halloween costume party Oct. 24, featuring food and live music, and the proceeds will benefit the market. Foy said members of the Delta 48 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2008-2009

Garden Club will volunteer at the market next year as part of one of the group’s service projects.

Foy also hopes to build on the success of the Bikes, Blues and Bayous bike tour, which attracted 217 cyclists in August. The 2009 event already is in the works, and she said she would like to add more musical components, including live music both Friday and Saturday.

She also is excited about the planned Howard Street/Johnson Street project with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, for which a January groundbreaking has been scheduled.

Brick sidewalks are to be put in on Howard Street from Front Street to Johnson Street, as well as brick crosswalks on Howard’s major intersections. Reproductions of 1920s street lamps, similar to the originals now on Front Street, will be placed down the length of Howard and also on Johnson Street from Howard to Main. Also, kiosks will be added at various locations explaining the history of transportation in the community.

Foy would like to extend the brick streets and lamp additions even farther.

“We’ll be looking for ways to expand on that to one day eventually do the whole downtown,” she said.

She also hopes a $240,000 grant from the Walton Foundation will encourage more building improvements.

Walls Detail Service and Emmanuel Temple Church of God in Christ have had work done with the help of $5,000 grants.

Foy said she hopes to be able to offer $10,000 awards with the help of the Walton

Foundation money.

If that happens, the applications will have to be redone to suit the standards of the Walton Foundation. A number of people are waiting to see how that turns out before applying, Foy said.

Main Street also is looking to replace the downtown street signs, which have become worn and faded from the weather. The design committee has been working on a more updated look for the signs, and then the funding will be addressed.

On Nov. 8, Main Street will join other local Main Street organizations across the state for “Let’s Go Walking Down Main Street,” a health awareness promotion in partnership between Mississippi Main Street and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

“It’s about healthy lifestyles, and it’s also about promoting pedestrian traffic in the downtown area,” Foy said. “I mean, everybody knows that there’s a shortage of parking. So if we make it easy for people to walk and cycle in the area, maybe parking won’t be such an issue.”

Main Street’s headquarters will undergo some improvements, too. Plans have been drawn up to add a conference room and kitchen to the site at the corner of Main and Church streets.

A grant for $6,201 from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History will pay for half of the project, and Main Street must raise the rest.

Foy continues to be encouraged by the community’s response to Main Street’s work.

“We have a really unique and interesting story to tell in Greenwood, and I really enjoy being a part of that.” LI

Voted The Best Small Newspaper in Mississippi 6 out of the last 7 years!

It is not in the same league as being known as the headquarters of world-renowed Viking Range Corp.

Or claiming the title of "Cotton Capital of the World."

But in its own small way, the Commonwealth gives Greenwood some bragging rights. For six of the past seven years, it has been judged the best small daily newspaper in the state.

Of course, putting out a newspaper is not about winning awards. It's about providing our community with an interesting and comprehensive package of local news day after day, year after year. That’s what really motivates us.

Phone 453-5312 • Long-distance toll-free 1-800-898-0730 To subscribe, call 453-6589. www.gwcommonwealth.com e-mail: commonwealth@gwcommonwealth.com

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